According to a new study, a lone weed found on the roadside may reveal a potential solution to the puzzle about DNA mutations. The investigation was led by experts from the prestigious University of California - Davis, and Max Planck Institute for Biology Tubingen in Germany.
Genetic Mutations in Evolution
On January 12, the researchers presented corresponding details of how evolutions work. They also provided clues on regulating better crops and developing potential solutions to protect humans from the crippling impacts of cancer.
Mutations are known to manifest in a system when DNA is modified, broken, or left unrepaired. When mutations happen, new variants of organisms could occur. Throughout the history of evolutionary biology, experts did not stop studying how mutations work from a closer perspective. Among their interests was to know if a mutational development is randomly set or is connected to deeper factors.
UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences expert and author of the study Grey Monroe said in a report by EurekAlert that they always thought that when a mutation happens in a genome, it is induced by random aspects. But thanks to the new findings, their team gathered some patterns that pushed the changing type of evolution.
The experts observed that a non-random mutation is present when the plants develop, giving them a new perspective about the outlook of mutations they have always known. Monroe added that their team determined how a non-random mutation benefits the subject, in this case, the roadside weed.
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Arabidopsis thaliana and Non-Random Mutations
The team has been investigating the DNA sequence of multiple Arabidopsis thaliana for about three years now. The subject is commonly known as the thale cress, a small plant that flowers even flourishes under harsh environments. The weed is dubbed the 'lab rat among the plants' due to the 120 million base pairs of genome it naturally contains. The Arabidopsis thaliana is indeed a perfect model for genetic studies, running behind the three billion base pairs found in humans.
With the help of scholars from the Max Planck Institute, the team grew species of the plant under a controlled and protected laboratory. Under the distinct circumstances of the facility, the experts expected that several of the defective plants might not be able to survive.
Contrary to what the scientists have anticipated, the Arabidopsis thaliana plants showed at least one million mutations, all having a non-random pattern of mutations. Max Planck Institute expert and author of the study Detlef Weigel said in the report that at first, the initial mutations in the specimens seem random. In addition, natural selection could have possibly induced the changes in the genomes of the organisms.
In the patches of the genomes, the team discovered several low mutation rates. But in an unexpected turn, these patches contained an overrepresentation of essential genes, usually present in gene expression and cell growth.
The study serves as a gateway to understanding how DNA wraps specific proteins and how they can be predictors of gene mutations. Although it was heavily based on the principles presented by Charles Darwin, the findings somehow encompass the theory of evolution, as the plants were found to have protected their genes from any mutations for the benefit of survival.
Rooting from this research, the authors expressed their anticipation to know more about how humans protect their own genes from mutations. The study was published in the journal Nature, titled "Mutation bias reflects natural selection in Arabidopsis thaliana."
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